EB OFFICE FAVOURITES – February 2011

Spring is in the air and the speakers at the Electronic Beats office are crackling with anticipation of a year of new and exciting music. In fact, there is lots of new music already that has getting has our feet tapping and heads nodding in the office – new bits from HypeWIlliams, Quadron, Deniz Kurtel and Charles Levine of Soul Clap. And of course this would not be the EB favorites with out some older gems – in the form of a tribute to The Guardian Angels and a killer edit of ALexander O’Neal. Enjoy!

Golden Flamingo Orchestra – The Guardian Angel Is Watching Over Us(Taken from the 12" The Guardian Angel Is Watching Over Us (1979) on Golden Flamingo Records)

I wonder that I didn’t stumble upon this earlier as I’ve been exploring the world of the two underground disco geniuses Peter Brown and Patrick Adams in the last years, but it seems I haven’t been diggin’ deep enough. However, I discovered this tribute to the Guardian Angels (a volunteer organization of unarmed citizen crime patrollers originally from NYC, more information here) lately, which is true gem just in between the late disco days and the very early b-boy and hip hop culture that would rock any block party today. (CDB)

Hype Williams – Businessline(Unknown release 2011)

Like many I am well and truly under the spell of Hype Williams – though I don’t have the desire to find out if they are real or not or what they are trying to convey. "Businessline" is widely available as a free download but I cannot tell you what album it comes from – if it comes from one at all. "Businessline" displays all that which is intangible and fascinating about this Berlin based duo. (GO)

Deniz Kurtel – The L Word (feat. Jada)(Taken from the forthcoming album Music Watching All Over Me (2011) on Crosstown Rebels)

I haven’t been much in clubs lately as I’ve been on holiday, but if is this is not a massive banger in good house clubs around the world right now, then I should retire from going out. Deniz Kurtel is the next Wolf + Lamb protégée going big, this time with a soon-to-come album on Crosstown Rebels, which sounds very, very promising to me. You can preview it here. (CDB)

Maxxi Soundsystem – Criticize(Taken from the 12" Criticize/His Hat Was His Home (2011) on Kojak Giant Sounds)

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Picked up this 12" right at the start of the year and haven’t stopped playing it since. A seriously infectious edit of AlexanderO’Neal‘s original from way back in 1987 – only this version is fatter, deeper, chunkier and will murder any dancefloor. (KR)

This track was played to be my house-mate, who if I don’t credit for introducing me to it, will never let me live in peace again. Having said that, it feels like it has been a long time since I heard a track with quite so much groove. In fact, this track is the definition of ‘riddim’. (KR)

I have actually been enjoying all of the mixes on this record – the Rafferite remix and the original are both killer and the fact that this is the debut release of PhOtOmachine makes me particularly excited to hear what’s coming next for this young producer. Forget trying to put it into a genre – it’s a simple, brilliant piece of 21st century electronic music. (GO)

Quadron – Day(Taken from Quadron (2010) on Plug Research)

I just wrote a Ones to Watch piece on these guys. Very talented and very special, you’ll be hearing a lot more from these Danish kids in the future. This song is so enriching and poignant, the string section in the chorus just kills me. (AS)

I have come across with Wendy Rene’s classic track in a recent mix by Nicolas Jaar and haven’t stopped listening to it. Like many old classic songs, this track has several times been remixed, covered and sampled by ones like Lykke Li, Nicolas Jaar or Wu-Tang Clan; yet, it is still the original version, which gets me goosebumps every time. (AZ)

"Lonely C" is taken from the first collaborative DJ-Kicks ever: Wolf + Lamb vs. Soul Clap. Charles Levine is one half of the Soul Clap duo, and with this track he tries out his vocals chords, keeping the entire track on a slow burn. This track works as much on its own as it does within the compilation which consists of 27 tracks and comes out on March 28th on !K7. The dreamlike vocal of the song is a perfect match with the title "Lonely C". (AZ)

As it turns pout, I stumbled across these Dalston youngsters last week, really exciting new sound. This turns out be cheesy but also a kind of fun new way of looking at a classic. These two boys are just starting out but already they have started to garner hype and noise from the Eastend. (AS)